Which Coffee Brewing Method Suits Summer Iced Coffee?

Three easy methods cover most summer iced coffee: pour-over iced coffee, drip-bag iced coffee, and cold brew. Each works at home or in an office with minimal gear. Pour-over gives a clean, bright cup, drip bags are the simplest, and cold brew steeps for hours to produce a smooth, low-acid concentrate.

Bean choice matters as much as the method. Ethiopia Natural Red Cherry, medium-light roasted, brings mixed berries, caramel, black tea, and a slight fruity fermentation note. Lighter roasts stay refreshing over ice, while medium roasts add body. Cold brew liquid can also be diluted, served over milk, or poured straight.

On a scorching summer day, a glass of iced coffee is undoubtedly an excellent choice to cool off and refresh yourself. This article will introduce in detail three ways to make iced coffee easily at home or in the office—pour-over iced coffee, drip-bag iced coffee, and cold brew iced coffee—and share three coffee beans recommended by Front Street Coffee that are suitable for making iced drinks: Ethiopia Natural Red Cherry, Panama Elida Estate Natural Typica, and Colombia Finca La Divisa Sidra. Whether you pursue a fresh and refreshing taste or a full-bodied layered experience, you can find a plan that suits you. At the same time, the article will also explain the difference between espresso and cold brew coffee, as well as the various ways to drink cold brew coffee liquid, helping you enjoy a cool summer.

"My life! Is given by iced coffee!" Although this saying is a bit exaggerated, it is undeniable that in the hot season, iced coffee is really a great heat-relieving神器!

Before the weather fully reaches high temperatures, Front Street has compiled several super simple ways to make iced coffee suitable for home/office. Everyone hurry up and learn them, and welcome the arrival of summer together!

Recommended coffee beans for summer iced coffee

Usually when people mention iced coffee, the first thing that comes to mind is clean and refreshing, so many friends choose light-roasted coffee beans with bright acidity to make it. However, some friends have also found that although light-roasted coffee beans make very refreshing iced coffee, the flavor always feels a little lacking in layers and fullness.

Are there any coffee beans whose overall performance can be both fresh and, when made into iced coffee, show a soft, full-bodied feeling, and also have very high cost performance?

"There definitely are!"

Ethiopia Natural Red Cherry Coffee Beans

Medium-light roast, flavor: mixed berries, caramel, black tea, slight fruity fermentation aroma

Red Cherry refers to the "Red Cherry Project" carried out by a Dutch green bean trader in 2007. The project was established mainly to raise the purchase price of fully ripe coffee cherries, thereby encouraging coffee farmers to harvest only coffee cherries that are already ripe and have red outer skin.

The effect of doing this not only greatly improves the overall quality of the coffee beans, but also, because fully ripe fruit has relatively high sugar content, after whole-fruit sun drying, the coffee beans can also obtain great sweetness and a slight fermented feel, bringing a soft and smooth mouthfeel to the coffee. It is one of the coffee beans with very good sweetness in the Ethiopian region.

Panama Elida Estate Natural Typica Coffee Beans

Medium roast, flavor: peach, orange, raisin, caramel, green tea

When it comes to Elida Estate, the first thing everyone may think of is the Geisha coffee beans from the estate that won the 2019 Bop competition with ASD slow natural processing. However, the estate does not only grow Geisha variety coffee beans, but also Caturra and Catuai varieties common in Central and South America, as well as the Typica variety, which itself has a clean and serene flavor profile.

The biggest characteristic of this Elida Typica coffee bean is that it has both the rich fruity flavor brought by the terroir of the producing area and sun drying, and the clean characteristic of Typica coffee beans themselves, so the coffee tastes very smooth and full-bodied.

Colombia Finca La Divisa Sidra Coffee Beans Medium roast, flavor: grape, passion fruit, dried apricot, citrus, fermentation aroma The Sidra variety attracted widespread attention because last year, in 2022, WBC champion barista Anthony Douglas selected Colombian Sidra coffee beans in the competition.

Sidra coffee is a laboratory variety bred by crossing Typica and Red Bourbon. Later, based on genetic comparison, it was found that Sidra coffee has similar genes to Ethiopian native varieties, so some scholars also speculate that Sidra was crossed from an experimental research variety exported from Ethiopia with local Bourbon coffee varieties in Ecuador. Sidra variety coffee beans have floral and fruity characteristics comparable to Geisha, expressing flavors such as peach, citrus, grape, and honey, with moderate acidity and a round mouthfeel. Key point! Excellent cost performance.

Summer iced coffee making methods N+1

The three coffee beans mentioned above can all use a medium-fine grind size when made into iced coffee using the following methods. As shown in the picture:

"Pour-over Iced Coffee Making"

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:10 (1g coffee: 10g water) Ice: 100g + Water temperature: 90-91°C Dripper: V60 Brewing method: three-stage pouring

In order to make the final iced coffee fuller overall, Front Street suggests first brewing the coffee liquid, shaking it evenly, and then pouring it into ice to cool and dilute. If ice is added first, the concentration of each stage during brewing will be inconsistent, and the final coffee may be relatively a little thinner.

For the iced pour-over coffee produced by Front Street, 15g of coffee grounds will be used. In the first stage, pour 30g for blooming for 30 seconds. In the second stage, pour 60g of water in a small stream in circles. When the water level drops to 1/2, in the third stage pour 60g in a small stream in circles, for a total poured water amount of 150g～then pour into ice to shake, cool, and dilute.

Note: You can prepare a little more ice～because only when there is enough ice can the coffee liquid cool as quickly as possible, and it also will not cause the coffee liquid to become too weak because the ice melts too quickly. When we dilute it to the concentration we want, just pick out the ice to stop the dilution.

"Drip-bag Iced Coffee Making"

Each bag of drip coffee sold by FrontStreet Coffee has a net content of 10g. The method is similar to pour-over coffee. The non-woven bag of the drip bag plays the role of dripper + filter paper.

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:10 (1g coffee, 10g water) Ice: 50g + Water temperature: 90-91°C Brewing method: center pouring

①Open the outer packaging bag of the drip coffee, tear off the seal along the "open" line, spread out the drip bag ears, and hang it on a short cup.

②Prepare hot water at about 90°C. If there is no thermometer, you can open the lid after the water boils and let it sit for 2 minutes, so the temperature will be about 90-93°C.

③Slowly pour 100 ml of hot water into the coffee filter bag, making sure the coffee grounds are completely soaked in water, then soak for 3 minutes (because the poured water amount is too small, it needs to soak for a while to ensure the coffee grounds in the bag are fully extracted). After that, take the drip bag out of the cup and throw it away.

④The last step is to add ice to cool it down～You can directly put large hard ice cubes into the cup, or prepare another cup with ice, pour the hot coffee liquid into it, and stir to cool and dilute.

"Cold Brew Iced Coffee Making"

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:12 (1g coffee, 12g water)

Water temperature: room temperature Equipment: cold brew pitcher

Steeping time: 12-16 hours

Cold brew (cold steeped) coffee can be said to be the most hassle-free and least technique-testing way to make iced coffee. It is just that the production time is relatively long, so you cannot drink it immediately. Everyone can start steeping at dinner time, and the next morning you can drink full-bodied, clean cold brew coffee～

Since the cold brew pitcher used by Front Street has a 1L capacity, this time 60g of coffee grounds will be used for demonstration. Everyone can increase or decrease the coffee grounds according to the size of their own cold brew pitcher. The ratio remains unchanged, but it must be ensured that the coffee grounds can be completely soaked after adding water.

Prepare a clean cold brew pitcher, pour the ground coffee into the filter of the cold brew pitcher, then pour 720g of room-temperature water into the coffee grounds for full wetting and steeping. After that, cover the lid of the filter part, and finally cover the lid of the cold brew pitcher. Then put it in the refrigerator to extract at low temperature for 12-16 hours～

At the end of extraction, lift the filter and let it hang at the edge of the pitcher to drip off the remaining coffee liquid. After that, pour out the coffee grounds and it is ready to taste. If you think 1:12 is too strong, you can make it 1:13, or add ice/clear water when tasting to dilute it.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.